White House hints Americans will need annual COVID boosters

The White House appears to be framing a selling point to Americans skeptical of getting an updated COVID-19 vaccine shot as an annual booster like the flu shot. 

In a briefing Tuesday, Biden administration health officials discussed the matter while also outlining the rollout of a new booster shot, Stat News reported. 

"It is becoming increasingly clear that looking forward with the COVID-19 pandemic, in the absence of a dramatically different variant, we likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual updated COVID-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population," said Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease official.

Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 coordinator, said some people remain vulnerable to COVID even with the vaccine and could need additional shots.